Various methods are known in the prior art for creating a joint connection. For these methods to be reliably employed, process monitoring methods need to run at the same time as the joining methods. Process monitoring of this nature evaluates the quantities associated with the joining method and signals if a produced joint is in order (OK) or not.
With known joining methods, the force-distance curves are recorded during the joining operation. These force-distance curves indicate the force exerted by the plunger on the joining element as a function of the distance traveled by the plunger. It has been shown that this approach is not universally applicable to any and all joining methods.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a process monitoring method for an operation of joining a joining element at a speed of at least 5 m/s.